Glasgow Museums have won top prize for their ‘Dippy on Tour: A Natural History Adventure at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum’ marketing Campaign at the 2019 ASVA (Association of Scottish Visitor Attractions) awards.
Recognising marketing excellence among ASVA member organisations, the awards were presented at ASVA’s ‘Best Practice Makes Perfect’ conference at the Crieff Hydro Hotel, Perthshire on November 7th.
‘Dippy’, The Natural History Museum’s iconic Diplodocus cast, arrived at Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery in January this year as part of a UK-wide tour of eight venues in 2018/19.
The marketing strategy developed by Glasgow Museums around Dippy’s arrival aimed to inspire visitors of all ages to undertake natural history adventures, enjoy and gain deeper understanding of nature on their doorstep, and explore the natural history collections in Kelvingrove Museum.
The campaign, which ran from November 2018 – May 2019, included a mix of print, advertising, digital marketing, social media and PR.
Moira McCall, Marketing Business Partner at Glasgow Museums said: “Dippy’s mission was to encourage young people to connect with the natural world. Sunnyside Primary, a local school renowned for their eco-credentials, made the perfect fit for our opening media event, with pupils speaking enthusiastically about embracing the challenge of combating climate change, to ensure more animals don’t become extinct and end up only as museum pieces like Dippy.
“Glasgow was the only Scottish city Dippy, or Diplodocus carnegii, visited. Named after Andrew Carnegie, who financed the dinosaur’s excavation in America in 1899, we capitalised on Dippy’s Scottish roots by working with the Andrew Carnegie Birthplace Museum in Dunfermline to have his great-grandson at the press and opening events. William Thomson’s unique connection captured everyone’s imagination.
“Dippy also presented the ideal opportunity to produce our first podcasts. These 10 minute podcasts revealed how Dippy was transported and assembled, celebrated Andrew Carnegie’s role and explored whether Scotland was ever home to dinosaurs.
“Video content created before and during Dippy’s stay included short animations of natural history A-Z which provided fun facts to educate our audience, while an April Fool’s prank – ‘Dippy’s Cone and Done It!’- used design trickery to make it look like Dippy had a traffic cone on his head, creating a link to the infamous traffic cone on the Duke of Wellington statue.
“The marketing and communications campaign for Dippy on Tour at Kelvingrove Museum contributed to a hugely impactful event that was well received by visitors of all ages and has proven to be the most successful exhibition held at the museum since it reopened in 2006”.
Commenting on the campaign, the judges said: “The submission from Glasgow Museums demonstrated clear and confident objectives, fantastic creative ideas and excellent collaboration across the whole museums’ team”.
Runners-up in the category were Camera Obscura & World of Illusions for its campaign to position itself as ‘Britain’s most fun attraction’ and
Dalkeith Country Park for the launch of the new ‘Sky Maze’ at its Fort Douglas adventure park.
Entries for this award were open to individual attractions, or groups of attractions working together, that could demonstrate good use of marketing channels, disciplines and technology together with effective measurement of results.
ASVA CEO Gordon Morrison said: “The winning and runner-up entries are fantastic examples of forward-thinking visitor attractions that have blended traditional and viral media to create innovative campaigns that capture and excite the imagination of their target audiences”.
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Media enquiries to Gillian Harrower, Tourism and Leisure Solutions, Tel. 07585 945181, E: [email protected]
